Watch the amazing story of Nikola Tesla (John C. Reilly); the father of Western... more »

Watch the amazing story of Nikola Tesla (John C. Reilly); the father of Western Technology, who sailed to America to meet Thomas Edison (Crispin Glover) and work for him. Late one night Duncan Trussell had a six pack of beer and a bottle of absinthe and sat down to tell us about this historical event.
Derek Waters presents: Drunk History vol. 6 « less

The video opens with the following test: On January 7th Duncan Trussell
drank a six pack of beer...Then a half a bottle of absinthe...and then
he discussed an historical event...Derek Waters Presents Drunk History

The shot cuts to Duncan Trussell sitting next to a bookcase.

Duncan Trussell: Today we're going to talk about Nikola Tesla.

The shot cuts to a still image of Nikola Tesla.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): Nikola Tesla was the father of Western technology.

The shot cuts to John C. Reilly dressed as Nikola Tesla.

Duncan Trussell: For everything we know as like modern electricity, Tesla invented that.

The shot cuts to light bulbs.

Duncan Trussell: He also invented invented wireless technology.

The shot cuts to a vintage clip of a couple with a remote control TV.
The shot then cuts to a vintage clip of a man adjusting a radio.

Duncan Trussell: He also invented the radio.

The shot cuts back to Duncan Trussell sitting next to the bookcase.

Duncan Trussell: Supposedly, one day, he was taking a walk in the park...

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): ...and he saw in his mind the perfect
blueprint for an engine that would create something called alternating
current.

John C. Reilly sees an “engine” in the sky.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): And that's when he was like, I have to go
to the United States and meet Edison. I'll meet Edison. So Tesla sailed
across the ocean (a vintage clip of a ship is shown) and found Edison (a
still image of Crispin Glover, dressed as Edison is shown), who at the
time was like the king of electricity...

The shot cuts to Crispin Glover and John C. Reilly sitting at a table.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): Edison was like, alright, I guess you can work for me.

Crispin Glover and John C. Reilly shake hands. The shot cuts to Crispin
Glover sitting outside while John C. Reilly digs in the background.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): His job was like digging ditches for
Edison. And this guy Westinghouse gave him money to start working on his
idea of alternating current.

The shot cuts to John C. Reilly talking to “Westinghouse,” who hands
John C. Reilly a check. The shot refocuses to show Crispin Glover in the
foreground looking unhappy.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): So Edison didn't like the idea of
alternating current because he owned all the patents on direct current.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): Westinghouse and Tesla won the contract to
supply all the electricity to the World Fair and this pissed Edison off.

The shot cuts to Crispin Glover, who looks furious.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): He was like, fuck this. Alternating current
is bad. Alternating current will only cause massive deaths. So he
started this campaign to prove that alternating current was like the
worst current you could use.

The shot cuts to Crispin Glover holding a pair of jumper cables for a car.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): What he did, is he began to like publicly electrocute animals.

Crisping Glover throws a plastic sheep onto a table.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): Edison was an asshole. He was like taking
sheep and being like, look what happens when the sheep touches
alternating current. Oh, it gets electrocuted. Look what happens when a
cow comes in contact with alternating current. It dies.

The shot cuts back to Duncan Trussell, sitting on the floor.

Duncan Trussell: Tesla was horrified.

The shot cuts back to John C. Reilly.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): He was like, this is awful. I am inventing
electricity and you look like an asshole. You look like a fucking idiot.

The shot cuts back to Crispin Glover with the jumper cables. The shot cuts back to Duncan Trussell sitting on the floor.

Duncan Trussell falls over onto his side. The shot cuts to Duncan Trussell on the floor in a bathroom.

Duncan Trussell: Tesla discovered the energy to run the World's Fair...

The shot cuts to a still image of a painting of castle.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): ...and at that moment, Tesla became an international figure, worshiped by everyone.

The shot cuts to a picture of John C. Reilly in a vintage newspaper. The shot then cuts to Tesla in a laboratory.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): So Tesla had like a laboratory and Mark
Twain and everybody who was famous in the world would come to the
laboratory.

The shot cuts to Craig Anstett dressed as Mark Twain.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): So he would do things like make electricity
shoot around his body. People would be watching him. Look at him he's
on fire. Mark Twain would be there crying.

The shot cuts to Craig Anstett crying.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): The new idea he had was, I don't think you
necessarily need to have like power plants for there to be electricity. I
think that you can take electricity from the air. This was directly
opposed to all of capitalist society.

The shot cuts to everyone leaving the laboratory and shaking their heads negatively.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): So he was basically ostracized from society.

The shot cuts to Duncan Trussell in the bathroom, vomiting.

Duncan Trussell: How did this come out of my body. There's pieces.
There's pineapple pieces. Okay, I know I chewed it. He went crazy, you
know. But his greatest pleasure as he was getting older was feeding
pigeons.

The shot cuts to John C. Reilly feeding pigeons.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): And he fell in love with a specific pigeon.

The shot cuts to Duncan Trussell in the bathroom.

Duncan Trussell: What an asshole.

The shot cuts to John C. Reilly in a bed.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): As he was dying, I guess he was in this
hotel room, and a pigeon appeared. From its eyes, this light glowed that
was brighter than any light that he had ever seen and he knew that he
would never invent anything worthy of a pigeon. He was 84.

The shot cuts back to Duncan Trussell in the bathroom.

Duncan Trussell: And he died in a hotel, completely broke and alone.

The shot cuts to John C. Reilly in the bed.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): In love with a pigeon.

The shot cuts back to Duncan Trussell in the bathroom.

Duncan Trussell: This is a nightmare.

The shot cuts back to John C. Reilly in the bed.

Duncan Trussell (voiceover): I'm in hell. This is hell.

The shot cuts back to Duncan Trussell in the bathroom.

Duncan Trussell: I'm talking about Tesla in my puke.

The shot cuts to John C. Reilly and his name appears next to him. The
shot cuts to Crispin Glover and his name appears next to him. The shot
cuts back to Duncan Trussell on the bathroom floor and his name appears
next to him.